MARTIN LUTHER KING MAY HAVE

BEEN RIGHT AFTER ALL??

At the end of September I was beginning to question my ability to maintain my commitment to the time, expense and sheer physical and emotional effort involved with watching my beloved Saints. This followed a crushing last-minute defeat at the hands of Barnsley.

This reverse was followed by an unlikely but most welcome victory away to Sheffield United who have just come down from the Premiership following their relegation last season.

Things were looking up...or so we thought. Last Tuesday evening, Saints went away brim full of renewed confidence to Preston, who had scored only one goal at their Deepdale ground all season. Saints lost 5-1!!

Now, at the end of my rant following the Barnsley debacle, I suggested that when West Bromwich Albion came visiting I might not be able to resist the temptation to go along. Resisting temptation has never been a strongpoint of mine so yesterday I made the journey for what was likely to be another drubbing, since West Brom were the leading scorers in the league and Saints had conceded more goals than anyone else. On the walk to the stadium yesterday, I mentioned that the crowd had a kind of resigned trudge about them, as if they were expecting the worst. The `march of the masochists` seemed to sum up the mood.

What followed was a real football match - end to end stuff, all out attack by both teams and Saints ended up winning 3-2 before a crowd of almost 22,000. Having taken an early 2-0 lead, Saints almost managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by being pegged back to 2-2 before Stern John gave us the winner. Astonishing. There is a kind of consistent inconsistency about Saints this season - dull it isn`t - but yesterday has now had the effect of making me question my ability NOT to maintain my commitment to the cause.

Martin Luther King`s `infinite hope` is alive and well.....at least for now and I still have a dream.